The present invention relates to a potential converter device and to a method for converting a potential, as is, for example, present in switching regulators or voltage regulators. In particular, the potential converter device and the method for converting a potential may be used in power management applications for sources of low continuous power output, such as, for example, in thermogenerators or piezoconverters which may comprise a low power output of, for example, 0.5 watts.
The technological field of application of the invention described here advantageously is a potential converter device the power input of which remains unchanged, whereas the energy consumption thereof may decrease compared to a conventional potential converter device.
With an energy source of very low energy efficiency, a switching regulator may, when used, take up nearly the same amount of power as is output by the energy source. In conventional power management concepts, individual functional blocks are usually switched on and off by separate voltage regulators, for example. The energy source needs to provide a sufficient amount of current so as to provide at least the control unit needed for controlling and monitoring and the voltage regulator with energy. This means that, in regular operation, part of the source energy will be used up by power management.
Conventional potential converter devices and/or switching regulators themselves consume part of the energy which they are to convert. When an energy source provides approximately the same amount of energy as the switching regulator consumes, an insufficient amount of energy will be available at the output for the actual load.
Potential converter devices may exemplarily be employed in battery-fed apparatuses in which electronics of an application need a higher voltage compared to a battery voltage, as is exemplarily the case in notebook computers, mobile phones or photo flashlight devices. Further examples of the usage of such potential converter means are transmitting measured values of sensors, such as, for example, temperature sensors in an oven, for transmitting temperature values and/or pressure values.